Biokyra

Monday, October 20, 2014

During USC's 2014 Body Computing Conference,
experts agreed that digital health funding is accelerating beyond that of
traditional healthcare. According to Rock Health (a company that provides
startups with funding and full-service support), digital health is one of the
fastest growing niches overall in venture funding today and is attracting
investors from several different areas. Unexpectedly, it is surpassing medical
devices in aggregate funding.

Casper de Clercq, a partner at Norwest Venture
Partners, a leading investor in medical device firms, pointed to a trend in
data collection. “There are other industries that are way ahead. Walmart,
Target, Amazon, and Google know way more about our healthcare and our health
situation than probably most of our providers do.” He mentioned the famous case
of a Target store discovering that a customer was pregnant simply by monitoring
her buying habits.

Malay Gandhi, managing director of seed fund Rock Health, stated that
large medical device companies are transforming their business models from a
pure hardware business into a services business. “Technology enabled services
in this category, where the medical device becomes a data acquisition
mechanism, and you have software, analytics, and a services or patient management
platform is really the future of medical devices.”

Monday, October 6, 2014

Medical device
manufacturers have identified “emerging markets” as their principal source of
revenue growth in the coming years. However, during the last Economist’s Health
Forum in Boston, major academics and industry’s players discussed the risks and
challenges associated with rising demands in these countries.

The discussion explored a growing concern that the healthcare model in
the United States and Europe isn’t sustainable or even necessary to meet the
healthcare needs in many cultures. These nations will need to create a “more of
an outpatient-oriented and prevention-oriented delivery system” that will
require behavioral changes by physicians and patients.

“(...) replicating a hospital-based system in
less-developed nations requires not only new infrastructure, but wholesale
change in the behavior and practice of patients and physicians. (...) also
demand a financial investment that even Western nations are having difficulty
paying(...)” Peter Berman, a professor at Harvard University’s School of Public
Health

Victor Joseph Dzau, MD, president of the Institute of Medicine brought
an academic, clinical, and corporate perspective. He stated that every culture
is different and needs specific solutions. “You won’t succeed unless you are
really on the ground and really understand the culture”. Device companies must
create local solutions to local problems in order to succeed.